This course provides insight into the key professional skills needed by managers at all levels of an organisation. You’ll learn key skills such as how to make a positive first impression; how to become a role model at work; effective time and resource management; and networking.
This course forms part of a specialisation from the University of London designed to help you develop and build the essential business, academic, and cultural skills necessary to succeed in international business, or in further study.
If completed successfully, your certificate from this specialisation can also be used as part of the application process for the University of London Global MBA programme, particularly for early career applicants. If you would like more information about the Global MBA, please visit https://mba.london.ac.uk/.
This course is endorsed by CMI

Taught By

David James

Founder and Director, DJ Learning Ltd

Transcript

[MUSIC] Today we're going to be talking with Andrew Harding. Andrew is Chief Executive Management Accounting, the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. And Andrew has had senior managerial positions for many years now, and he's worked in many different parts of the world. And Andrew's going to share with us some of his experiences about the importance of networking. And how he's built his own sustainable networks. So Andrew, with your experience in the various senior roles that you've held and are holding. Where does networking feature in terms of what you see as important? >> I think it comes right up there as being critical. It's critical in terms of getting things done. >> Right. >> And also it comes into being a mitigation for the loneliness of the leader. >> [LAUGH] >> [INAUDIBLE]. So your network is where you can have confidential discussions. Someone you know who does a similar job to you, maybe a different industry. You can say, I'm having this problem. How would you deal with it? Conversations that you can't have within your own business. So it's important from that point of view. Important also for, I want to do this, do you know someone who can help me do this? And the final bit, in your introduction you talked about jobs. The last time I was looking for a new job. 15 minutes after I decided I wanted to do it and had sent out a communication to my network. I had the meeting lined up which resulted in the job. And the whole thing took a grand total of six days. And that is the power of the network. And when you come to those, when you think about the power of the network in the career. You don't necessarily get the opportunities and the roles from the people you're expecting to. So, the power of that network is enormous. But also the way you behave and the way you engage in that network and the way you develop it is important. The person who gave me the role was essentially a competitor. And I said to him, I said why, we've argued, we've disagreed, over and over and over again. >> [LAUGH] >> I said, why did you react like that? And he said, I liked the way you disagreed with me. >> Right. >> And I want that. >> We have some really key things about networking that we need to draw out and consolidate already. Because from the experiences that Andrew has started to share with us, we've got examples of possibly informal networks. So confidantes, perhaps peers working somewhere else that you can share situations with. Maybe a more formal network. So if any one of us, as was Andrew's situation a little while back, looking for a new piece of work. So perhaps that might be a more formal approach. You've also got, then, perhaps a structured approach, because Andrew shared with us the importance of having that network. And then perhaps more of an unstructured approach. Insofar as, a network can bring surprises that you never even thought of. So if you weren't in contact with a particular person or group in any part at any point. You would never know what the outcome would be, predictable or otherwise, because you had no contact. So already we can see that networking firstly in terms of what Andrew has shared with us is very important. And actually we can start to look at it from a point of view of being unstructured, structured, formal, and informal. How do you actually network in a kind of more formal, structured way, Andrew, with the work that you do? >> Networking's changed enormously over the last ten years. Ten years ago, you'd learn how to network, and it's about how do you speak to someone at a reception? Which hand do you hold your glass in at the reception so you can shake their hand? The world's moved on from there. Yes, you still have those experiences, but the networking opportunities are much wider. You have things like LinkedIn. So that can multiply your traditional network ten, 20, 30 times but it's no good just having connections on there. It's, how do you engage with those? What do you do on that? How are you active? How are you active in that virtual world? And that becomes something very different. And generationally, that can be a challenge. If you grew up in a world where your networking is very personal now it becomes less personal. But you have to think about, how do you speak to your 600, your 700 contacts on LinkedIn? What you want to be saying to them? What do you want the impact of that to be? And You can't make a mistake with it. Say something dumb on LinkedIn, and it's there forever. >> [LAUGH] >> And you've got several hundred people who've got a record of it. >> So, Andrew shared with us the importance of the context of networking. So what was perhaps the predominant way of networking, so going to a formal networking event. Which still is an option today. But other options to network are available also, many facilitated by technology. And we heard the example of LinkedIn. Whereby you can have many, many contacts who you can network with simultaneously. Albeit, there is the real importance of getting that networking message right. Because otherwise, it's there for everybody to see should it not go quite to plan. What about in the roles that you hold down, Andrew, the more informal approach to networking? How does that work? >> It's very much a case of how you identify and how you relate to people. And sometimes that can be quite simply, do you have a rapport with somebody? Can you build that rapport? Again, when we talk about leadership, we talk about the authenticity of the leader. That enables you to build that rapport. And again, false promises or anything like that means that you don't have that network, you don't have that connection. So the sincerity and the intent always has to be there, has to be followed up, and it can't be neglected. I mean in many ways it's easier in these days, because it's easier to communicate. The time when you'd have long lunches and that sort of thing to build that rapport, that doesn't have quite that necessity anymore. Which is great, because I've never been a fan of the business lunch. [LAUGH] But you still need that relationship. And that just requires interaction. >> Yeah, and so now we're almost moving on to the skills and competencies. That are needed to help, to build a powerful, personal network. And Andrew's highlighted several. So the ability to be seen as authentic. The ability to build a relationship. The ability to earn trust obviously is really, really important. When you look to establish a new contact in a network, what's the very first thing that you think about? >> Well assuming I know why I want that contact, the first thing I think about is, how can I get an introduction to that- >> Right, okay. >> To that person. So I think the introduction through a third party helps to build that trust. A mutual friend automatically gives you a connection, so the door's already half open. A cold approach, a cold approach is a high risk approach unless you're a very, very special, unique person. And those people are few and far between. You have to be born that way, I don't think that can be learned. So I think the introduction's important. And again, to go back to feeding off your network. And I think it's interesting, again, when we talk about being a leader. We talk about you don't need to be liked. For you to be successful in your networking, I think being liked is important. Because otherwise you're not going to get the introductions, it's not going to start to generate itself. >> What we've also now learned from Andrew is where you network and who you network with. Because Andrew's mentioned more than once the importance of the position enabling you to get a network in the first place. So Andrew's role at various levels of seniority would have given options to network where otherwise they might not have existed. And secondly, then when you're looking to network the importance of perhaps having a mutual contact. Or an introduction to help you to get that contact with that person that you're looking to network with. So, when we reflect back over this interview. We've begun to explore the fact that there are several different types of network, unstructured, structured, formal, and informal. We've also begun to explore that there are several key skills that you need to be able to demonstrate. If you are looking to build an effective network. So the need to be seen as authentic. The need to be able to get this two way trust. The need to again build collaborative relationships. On a more practical sense, who you are and what you represent then becomes important as well. So in Andrew's position at different levels of seniority that has helped create networking opportunities. And then for all of us, the need to be able to work out ways to get to that person you want to make contact with. Possibly, not always, a more cold approach, so you're not known to that person in the first instance approach may not be successful. It may but it may not. Whereas if you've got a mutual contact that can introduce you, somebody to get you that introduction. That might work better for you. But what is clear, and clearly from Andrew's experience that he's shared with us, networking has always been important. But in today's ever-more competitive world, in today's world where the job market is changing, the workplace is changing. The need to demonstrate networking skills is becoming more and more important for us all to demonstrate. Thank you Andrew. >> Thank you. [MUSIC]

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